


Come Prima

by theremin



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:48:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29223456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theremin/pseuds/theremin
Summary: Beginnings and endings over the years.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 54
Kudos: 155





	1. Chapter 1

**1985**

This was how it ended: the 1984 All Valley Karate Championship, lost in spite of having spent the best part of a year training for it, and lost and worst of all _fought_ badly, cheaply. Johnny tried to salvage whatever shreds of honor he had left by being a good loser, thrusting the first place trophy at LaRusso, telling him the fight was good. That was how it ended.

No – _this_ was how it ended: after the championship, in the parking lot, where the sensei he had viewed as a father broke his second place trophy, put him in a chokehold, called him worthless. 

But even after the ending, you have to keep on living. You have to keep on living being second best. You have to keep on living without your sensei, your dojo, the one thing you're good at. It did give Johnny a measure of satisfaction that after he'd left Cobra Kai the whole thing fell apart, the guys more loyal to him than to Kreese. 

He tried other stuff. He tried learning the drums. He went with chicks. Like, loads of them. He started lifting. He partied.

One night he was walking alone, the other guys lost to some bar or beachside party during the night, he was kind of wasted and extremely sleepy and just wanted to get home. He barely registered a bunch of guys in the street there, speaking in threatening tones. Then the words 'karate champion' filtered through and he jerked his head over to look, frowning.

"This little guy? Seriously?"

"Come on guys, I don't want any trouble, okay?"

Good god, Johnny knew that voice, that cocky stupid nagging voice. 

"Yeah, I swear, he's won the All Valley Championship."

"Wanna show us your moves, kid?"

Johnny reached out to lean on a streetlight and tilted his head. Eight guys – he blinked, no, four guys, were circling Daniel LaRusso, and he raised his guard slow, clearly getting ready to get into it. Johnny watched as he ducked when the first guy swung at him, circle kicked him to the ground, but then the others kind of ganged up, caged him in. Maybe part of him wanted to see LaRusso get the shit kicked out of him, but a much bigger part of him just felt angry at the spectacle. Fucking pussies. 

(It had been different when he and the boys had ganged up on LaRusso. They had a good reason.)

He walked up, grabbed one of the guys wailing on LaRusso by the back of his shirt and pulled him away, threw him down on the pavement, kicked him in the ribs in case he felt like getting up. LaRusso blinked at him, his bottom lip was split and blood was trickling down to his chin. He nodded and LaRusso nodded a little unsurely back, and then the guys still on their feet rushed them, and then he was back to back with LaRusso and they were like a four legged four armed asshole dispatcher. 

When the jerk-offs were crawling away, Johnny felt real good, and then he felt real sick, and then he threw up, and then he felt dizzy, and then the world went black. 

The wheel of pain, that's what the buddhists call existence. They seem kind of jolly and mellow, the buddhists, but they have it figured out. Life is a never ending shower of shit and the literally only way to end it is to reach a point where you can hope the gods looked kindly enough on you to blip you out of existence entirely. Death won't do the job, after death you'll just get reborn and reborn, back on the fucking wheel, and you might not even get to be a regular guy, you might be a stinkbug, you might be a tick on a monkey's balls, you might be a tv evangelist. You have to win the spiritual lottery for the privilege of disappearing altogether.

Johnny opened his eyes. Back on the wheel. He looked around. Where the fuck was he?

It seemed to be a small, wooden house, kind of shack-sized, single room. It smelled new, it smelled like fresh wood and sap and wood stain. It was a nice smell. He was on a mattress, soft feather pillow under his head. His head throbbed. He tilted it to the side, looked at the wall. There were scrolls on it with Japanese writing on them. There was a shelf with books on it, there was a stack of magazines, a chair, a dresser, a small desk. There were some tiny, freaky little trees.

The screen door slid open, and there was Daniel LaRusso, a healing scar on his bottom lip, his hachimaki around his head, wearing a sleveless top and jeans, and holding a large glass with a green liquid in it. "Hey, you're up. Uh, how are you feeling? Mr Myagi made this for you, in case you have a headache or something. He said you need to drink it all at once, hold it down."

That was how it began.

**Present day**

"Come prima, più di prima, t'amerò... per la vita, la mia vita, ti darò..." 

Daniel had told Alexa to play the old Tony Dallera classic, and he was singing along in an exaggerated, emotional croon, grabbing Amanda and leading her into a waltz. She laughed. 

"Oh we're Italian today!"

Daniel smiled. "My grandma loved these old songs. She had a huge collection of 45s." He sighed. "My mom sold them off when she died, when she was scraping together enough money for us to move out to California. I wish I had them. I made a playlist with all the songs I can remember her playing. This was one of her big favourites."

"Well I can see why, amore," Amanda grinned, smiled big at her handsome husband, let him spin her around. 

It was not yet the end.

**1985**

The weird green concoction tasted gross, but Johnny felt desperate to get rid of the headache so he did as told and swallowed it all down, and he blinked and his head felt clearer already, like fog lifting from a field. Daniel took him on a little turn around the garden and Johnny couldn't believe what he was seeing, it was beautiful, meticulously landscaped in the Japanese style. More freaky trees. A koi pond. Rocks. But like, pretty rocks. Johnny wondered if he was still sleeping.

"We should train together," Johnny told Daniel before he left.

"Yeah?" Daniel said a little unsurely. 

"Yeah, we're a good team," Johnny said, and he wasn't sure why he was suddenly insisting. Maybe because fighting off those assholes together the other night was the best he'd felt in months. "might be fun."

Daniel looked down, kind of shy, and then he looked up, and a small smile widened and brought out the apples of his cheeks, and he nodded. "Yeah, cool. That sounds like fun."

Johnny wrote his address on a scrap of paper and pressed it into Daniel's hand. But when Daniel actually showed, he was still surprised. Daniel didn't say much at first, he mostly just gawped at the house. Johnny's mom had found a rich guy. He didn't tell people the guy wasn't his real dad. Not that he wanted to claim that fucking asshole, but he wanted to claim being a Hills guy, not just a poor kid who got lucky. 

"Wow, look at this place," Daniel said. "it's like a palace or something."

"Mm."

"Oh wow, look at the pool!"

Johnny raised an eyebrow.

They decided to spar in the garden, worked up a good sweat. Daniel got lucky with a high kick, got him right in the ear, and Johnny clamped his hand to it, winced.

"Oh- um, sorry, are you okay?" Daniel dropped his guard, walked over and raised a hand, tried taking his hand away from the side of his face so he could inspect. Johnny glared at him, and then crowded him, made him step backwards, used his height and size to intimidate him.

"I said I was sorry, what are you doing, you psycho-"

Then Johnny jumped him, clamped both arms around him, and they both fell with a huge splash into the pool.

Daniel emerged from the water, gasping for air. "You jerk!"

"That makes us even," Johnny said, and laughed. 

Afterwards they lay on the grass, clothes laid out to dry, and Johnny got up on his elbows and looked over at Daniel. His arms had some muscle definition but he was wiry more than anything, his ribs visible through his tan skin. His mouth was a little open, the cut on his lip a lot smaller. He healed quick. His arm was slung over his eyes, shielding them from the sun, and Johnny suddenly wished Daniel would look at him too. 

"Hey."

He reached out and touched Daniel's elbow and Daniel slid his arm off his face, it left a trail of slick sweat in the heat. "Huh?"

"Does it hurt?"

"What?"

"Your lip."

"Oh-" his fingers came up to touch it. "not really, it's fine, I've had worse, and mr Miyagi got me like something to rub on it, it helped."

"You can't stay out of trouble, huh."

Daniel looked offended. "It's not my fault people keep bothering me. I didn't do anything to them, I was just minding my business."

"Like when you were minding your business when I tried talking to Ali that time?"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You should learn how to take a hint."

There was a slightly awkward silence and they glared at each other. Then Daniel sighed, shrugged.

"Doesn't really matter now, anyway. She got with some college guy."

"Oh."

"You don't have to look so smug."

"What?"

"You're smirking, you can stop it."

"She just keeps on downgrading, huh."

Daniel frowned at that, and then he laughed. "Yeah, yeah."

**Present day**

"Johnny?"

Johnny Lawrence - hungover, completely fucking miserable and thwarted in his attempt to leave without being spotted - winced, frowned, and turned around.

"Johnny Lawrence. I knew it was you!"

Johnny suffered through a weird hug, a handout – a fucking _handout_ \- from fucking _Daniel LaRusso_ , and he wouldn't even let him leave without bringing a stupid fucking little tree. When he exited the auto dealership he threw it to the ground, his whole body so tense, like a strung bow, he almost vibrated. 

That was how it began.


	2. Chapter 2

**1985**

The summer days were long and hot and aimless and it became a thing, Daniel coming over to practice. Some times his other friends, his old Cobra Kai crew, would call him up and wonder if he was dead or what, and he'd feed them some line but he'd always kind of been a shitty liar. They just jumped to the conclusion he was seeing some chick. Johnny didn't bother correcting them. He probably _should_ be seeing some chick, instead of what he _was_ doing, which was seeing that little geek LaRusso. It wasn't even like they were real friends, they had literally nothing in common except for karate. Daniel could barely conceal the fact he thought Johnny was some kind of rube, just because he didn't know about bonsai or kanji or tea ceremonies or fucking Japanese butt smelling rituals, or whatever. Likewise, Johnny couldn't help himself pointing out what a little shrimp Daniel was, because he just _was_. Like, it was objective fact. But Daniel kept coming back, and Johnny kept making himself available. It got to the point where Daniel just beelined for the fridge for a drink like he owned the place when he came around, it got to the point where Johnny would favor the chair where he could see the driveway from the window, so he could see when Daniel would pull up on his shitty bike.

And they would practice. Sometimes Daniel would swim in the pool if it was real hot, sometimes they'd get pizza if they lost track of time and suddenly realized they were starving (Johnny always paid, from the stash of bills his mom and stepdad would leave him whenever they went off for one of their trips), but the main thing was the practice. Even though Daniel was was so small he could moonlight at the flea circus he had real technique, and a very different technique, and it was a genuine challenge keeping up with him. An enjoyable challenge. And like all good challenges, it made Johnny better.

"You should lift," Johnny told him, after Daniel had landed a side blow. "you'd make more of an impact. Like you get points but you don't actually hurt me."

"I'm not trying to hurt you," Daniel said, evaded a kick.

"Yeah, yeah, self defense only, blah blah. Some day you might actually have to kick someone's ass," he said, shot out an arm and Daniel blocked it but then his other arm shot out to jab Daniel in the stomach and he stumbled backwards, fell on his back, but even as he was falling he kicked out and hit Johnny's ankle so hard he lost his balance and then he fell on top of Daniel, knocked the air out of him.

"Did you mean to do that?" Johnny asked, laughed, a little winded himself, but not as much as Daniel who was gasping for breath underneath him.

"You know I didn't, get off me."

"What kind of move do you call this, LaRusso?" He shifted enough to cage in Daniel's legs with his thighs. 

"Don't be an ass, get off me."

"Maybe if you lifted, you wouldn't make for such a nice, soft mattress. I could stay here all day."

Daniel strained under him, tried pushing him off.

"That is adorable," Johnny said.

"Okay. Fine. I'll just go to sleep until you get bored." 

Daniel demonstratively closed his eyes and the smirk kind of fell from Johnny's face. Lying underneath him like this, black eyelashes fanned out on his cheeks, his cupid's bow a tender arc, Daniel looked- beautiful. That was really the only word for it. Abruptly, Johnny rolled off him, and Daniel bounced to his feet.

"Come on, let's go."

"Nah," Johnny said, "it's too hot for this shit. I'm going for a swim."

**Present day**

It didn't end like Amanda had been afraid it would end. She had once told him, _never cheat on me. If you meet someone else, if you fall out of love, be honest with me._ Daniel had promised he wouldn't cheat and he'd never lie, even as he argued he'd never love anyone else. And for the last twenty years, the promise had remained unbroken. 

"Never do that to me," she said to him with haunted eyes after coming off the phone with another sobbing girlfriend whose husband had told her, out of the blue, he'd found someone else, he was leaving her, and she was getting nothing. Daniel had held her and promised her he wouldn't. 

He hadn't.

But it turned out there was more than one way to ruin a marriage.

"Honestly, Daniel, you're too old for a midlife crisis!"

"It's not a midlife crisis!"

"Oh it's not? You're a grown man with a family, and all you care about anymore is _karate!_ All you do is spend time at your dojo with your high school buddy. Do you have any concept of how pathetic that is?"

"It's not all I care about! And he's not my high school buddy!"

"Bills need to be paid, okay? We're going to have to sell the summer house."

"We don't need a summer house. I never had a summer house growing up, I think I turned out okay."

Amanda shook her head. "You know, Daniel. You always had – you always had this temper on you, this impulsiveness. You told me you tried to remember what mr Miyagi would tell you to cope with it. I really hoped, in time, you'd confide in me like that, let me be that person for you. Instead, you go behind my back, you take these big decisions about the business – about _our_ business, _our_ property, without me? What is that? What is that? Where do I even fit into this little martial arts fantasy of yours?"

Daniel bit his lip. It was true, in the past year or so he'd made a lot of selfish decisions. That he probably should have discussed with her. He was man enough to admit that.

"I'll do better," he said.

"I want a separation," Amanda said.

That was how it ended.

**1985**

"I never see your parents around," Daniel remarked one night. It had got kind of late, so they'd got Chinese, and he was showing off, shovelling his fried rice into his mouth with wooden chopsticks. Johnny used a fork like a normal person.

"They're travelling. They like to spend summers abroad."

Daniel tilted his head, looked at him. "Um, yeah. Well my mom is in Fresno right now, so I'm staying with mr Miyagi. She comes back to check on me every once in a while but her uncle, my great uncle, he's pretty sick, and he needs her."

"You like staying with the old man?"

Daniel nodded. "Uh huh. He's awesome." He shrugged. "Plus it means I get to train every day. If I was out in Fresno I'd have to train on my own. But now I got both mr Miyagi and you."

"You competing in the All Valley this year?"

Daniel shrugged. "Yeah, I think I'd like to. Defend the title, you know. You?"

Johnny shook his head. "I'll be nineteen. I'll be too old."

"Good excuse not to get your ass kicked," Daniel said and smirked a little.

"I could still throw you in the pool, shrimp."

"You won't."

Johnny made a sudden movement and Daniel jerked backwards in the sofa, and Johnny laughed. "Flincher."

When Johnny came to, still lying on the recliner, the TV was still on. They'd fallen asleep. Daniel was lying on the sofa on his side, hands cradling his face. His mouth was a little open, showing his large front teeth. He looked real peaceful, and real vulnerable. If it was Bobby, or Dutch, or Tommy, he'd get a bucket of warm water, put their hand in it, make them piss themselves. That was always a scream. Or maybe draw a dick on their face in marker. He smiled. What a classic. But he didn't feel like doing anything like that to Daniel. He guessed maybe he felt protective of the little guy. He got up, and walked over, and then the weirdest impulse grabbed him and he reached out a hand, gently ran two fingers through Daniel's hair. Daniel's eyes blinked open and he pulled his hand back like he'd been burnt. 

"Huh? Whuh?" He looked up at him. "Did I fall asleep?"

"Looks like it."

"Oh, man."

A little later they were in the kitchen, having bowls of cereal with milk (pretty much the only foods Johnny kept in the house and knew how to prepare when it was just him), listening to the radio. "Can't Fight This Feeling" segued out and the DJ started chattering. "And now, by very special request of Theresa Costanza of Bakersfield, we're going to play a golden oldie, this, is Come Prima, by Tony Dallara, for all you lovers out there."

Daniel's eyes widened. "This was my grandma's favorite song!" He lunged for the radio, turning it up. Johnny winced. Soppy old wop shit.

"Come prima, più di prima, t'amerò," Daniel sang along. "man, she'd play this all the time."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Johnny said and Daniel shot him an annoyed look. He cleared his throat. "you speak Italian?"

Daniel shook his head. "Only bits and pieces. She came over from Naples, but my grandparents were super first gen immigrants, you know, like, really obsessed with becoming American. They only ever spoke English around the house, even though they weren't that good at it. My mom doesn't speak a word of Italian. I think nonna changed her mind a little bit about that, especially after my nonno died."

"So what's the song about?"

"Uh, hooking up with an old flame, I guess. It goes," he started singing in a gentle croon. " _as before, more than before, I'll love you..._ something like that. Italians are really into the sentimental songs, I think especially about missing people, you know, a lot of them left their whole families and lives behind, they didn't know if they'd get to see those people again." He looked thoughtful. "I think nonna only went back to Naples the twice, and that was kind of late in her life."

"Yeah, okay," Johnny said. "I think I'll stick with Guns'n'Roses."

**Present day**

"Jesus Christ, LaRusso, ever heard of knocking?"

"I'm sorry! What are you even doing in here?"

Daniel shielded his eyes, turned away. 

"I'm decent."

Daniel looked at Johnny. He'd pulled on a pair of grey sweatpants but clearly nothing else. "Well, that's debatable."

"What, you want me to put on a suit? It's the middle of the night."

Daniel frowned. When mr Miyagi had passed, he'd been made his sole heir. He'd stayed in the little property for several years, tending to the garden, only moving away when things got real serious with Amanda and they found a little apartment together, more central, easier to get to for her work, and his new job at the body shop. But he'd never been able to let the property go, even when they could have really used the money, even when it became clear he had no more time to look after it. But then he had become a sensei, and he'd done up the old garden, done up the old house. And when he'd entered into this business partnership with Johnny, with Johnny Lawrence of all people, someone he really never thought he'd ever see again, he'd offered Johnny to stay in the house rent free so they could keep salary costs down the first year running the dojo together. 

So why the hell he was butt naked in the guest house when Daniel had tried to sneak in at one in the morning, was anyone's guess. "What are you doing in here?"

"I like it better here than in the house."

Daniel frowned. "Why?"

Johnny just shrugged. "I just do. But the shower's in the house and I didn't feel like putting on a robe. Dry off the old fashioned way. But I think the better question is, what are _you_ doing here?"

Daniel sighed, a big full body sigh. "Amanda kicked me out."

Johnny nodded slowly. "I'm sorry, Daniel. That sucks. But hey, she'll come round. Don't worry."

"Yeah. Here's hoping. Um. I'll go in the house, then."

"Yeah, of course."

"I might be staying for a while. So no more walking around naked, okay?"

"Why not? Nothing you haven't seen before."

"Ha ha," Daniel said, because he couldn't think of anything else to say, shut the screen door and set off for the main house. But in his chest his heart hammered. Johnny had been back in his life for nearly two years. He'd really thought they'd made a silent agreement never to refer to those long gone summer days again.


	3. Chapter 3

**1985**

Another week of these weird, intimate little moments inbetween their practice and training passed and Johnny had to face facts. So Daniel LaRusso was beautiful. So what? Johnny mulled it over, and decided it didn't actually mean anything at all, except maybe that he looked a little too much like a chick for his own good. He had that soft looking mouth and that tan skin and those warm brown eyes and all that black hair. He wasn't some kind of homo for finding that attractive, those were just objectively attractive features. The problem, really, was that Johnny knew those looks came with a personality that could be short-tempered and petty and immature but still so fundamentally _kind,_ and worst of all, that was patient with him, that really seemed to like him, even though a lot of the time Johnny didn't like himself very much. What was he supposed to do with that?

If Daniel really had been a chick, it wouldn't have been a big deal. Or well, it would, but at least he'd know what to do about it. He could just be like, hey, uh, Danielle, wanna come with me to the arcade tonight, wanna sit on the back of my Harley? And Danielle probably would be into it because chicks usually were, at first, anyway. Of course he could still ask Daniel to go to the arcade or for a ride, he might want to, but the prospects of a makeout sesh and a hand job were equal to nil, it would just be Daniel oblivious and pressed against him on the back of the bike and then he'd have to play Punch Out!! trying to hide a boner. Too depressing to contemplate.

As far as he could tell, his options were these: 1. stop seeing Daniel altogether. 2. see Daniel less, hang out more with the boys, date around, meet a babe that could put all these stupid unwelcome thoughts out of his head. 3. keep seeing Daniel, try to act normal and blow off steam by jerking off so much he had to use his mom's moisturizer so the skin on his hands wouldn't crack open. 1 was out of the question and 2 was a lot of effort so thus far he'd just gone with option 3, but it was all getting a little out of hand. 

In his fantasies Daniel was a lot more submissive and pliant than he was in reality, he could just walk over and grab him and he'd open that pretty mouth for him. He fantasised about fucking Daniel in the pool, in that guest house with all the freaky trees, he fantasised about riding his Harley with Daniel in back, one arm wrapped around Johnny's chest, one hand wrapped around Johnny's dick. But the main fantasy, the one he kept coming back to, was just Daniel sucking him off, that mouth wrapped around his dick, it became such a go-to just the sight of Daniel's tongue flicking out to wet his lips threatened to make him bust. 

Then, the Thing happened.

Okay, maybe coming in from the outside, it didn't look like much of a thing, but it was an opening, and when you're locked in a fight with an opponent that is your match, you have to look for an opening, and then you strike. You strike first, you strike hard. No mercy. 

"LaRusso, what the fuck?"

They'd been sparring in the garden as per usual and Johnny had gone for the leg, and Daniel's fall had been way too calculated, way too graceful, and he just knew it was coming when Daniel's foot hooked around his ankle and swept him off his feet, so in desperation he grabbed out, ended up pressing Daniel to him and they rolled around on the ground, it was ridiculous, they weren't adhering to rules or traditions they were just scrapping like idiots, neither wanting to lose. If all that wasn't bad enough, holding Daniel's warm, wiry body to his, hearing him gasp and stutter had the very predictable effect, and he knew he had to get out of there.

"Okay, whatever, I yield, you clown. I'm going for a quick shower, I'm drenched."

At least the excuse was good. He reached behind himself and pulled his top off, threw it to the ground, then stalked off for the house. In the shower he leaned a forearm on the tile and his face to his arm and wrapped his other hand around his dick, replayed and rewrote the scrap in his mind until he came with a grunt. Then he sighed, felt empty and incredibly stupid, put on clean underwear, a fresh pair of shorts, a fresh top, and walked back out in the garden. And saw the Thing. And a pussy might look away, might decide it was nothing. But a cobra? A cobra had to strike.

"I-" Daniel looked sheepish, and almost scared.

"What the _fuck?_ "

Daniel was lying on one of the sunbeds, his long tan legs splayed out, Johnny's discarded top in his hands, pulled away from where he'd had it clamped to his face. 

"I just uh, needed, like a towel, and this was the closest thing, and-"

"Bullshit," Johnny said, stalked over, and Daniel jumped out of the sunbed, walked backwards, held both palms up.

"Look, I don't know what you think I was doing, but I'm serious, I just needed, uh,"

"What, LaRusso? What did you need?" He crowded Daniel, stepped into his space. "To smell my sweaty clothes, you little perv?"

"No, jesus, uh, listen to yourself, you're ridiculous,"

He couldn't even look Johnny in the eye. No mercy, Johnny thought, and leaned in, and kissed him. At first Daniel was stiff and unresponsive towards him, and Johnny had the terrified thought he really _was_ just enough of a pig to use sweaty clothes to wipe his face with, but then Daniel's arms came up tight around him and he kissed back, reaching up on his toes.

Johnny parted his lips and licked at Daniel's mouth and he gasped and Johnny took it as his cue to slip his tongue to Daniel's and Daniel made a very soft noise, a noise that reverberated through Johnny's body like shockwaves. He felt like- Frankenstein's fucking creature, getting a million volts put through his body, just from that sweet hum. He pulled away, gasping. 

"Okay. Just for the record. I'm not a fag, right?"

"Huh?"

"Just letting you know."

Daniel blinked. "Um, do you want to stop?"

Johnny rolled his eyes. "No, I don't want to stop. I'm just saying, so you'll know."

Daniel's eyes darkened a little. "What, you think I'm gonna propose to you, Johnny Lawrence? Dream on."

"God just- just shut up."

"Make me shut up."

Johnny did.

**Present day**

Daniel scanned the listings, and found what he was looking for. Predator. Perfect. 

"Is it my birthday?" Johnny asked, looking up at him from the sofa, when Daniel served up the plates of medium rare steak and fries, with a home made bearnaise sauce on the side. Daniel flushed. What were these comments? Was he doing it on purpose? It had been non stop the last days.

"Your birthday? I cook all the time. The alternative is you living off cereal and lunchables and honestly, I'm going to need you around for at least a couple more years if this business is ever going to make money."

"Yeah but you usually make chick food. Fish. Greenery."

"For the last time, they're called vegetables," Daniel said. 

"Kale. Canoe."

"It's quinoa."

"This is real food. So what's the occasion?"

"Nothing wrong with a little red meat every once in a while, as long as it's not every day," Daniel said, sat down next to him and turned on the TV. "let's see what's on... oh, cool, Predator!"

Johnny glanced over at him. "You like Predator?"

"Yeah, it's great," Daniel lied. "you don't wanna watch it?"

"Hell yeah!" Johnny said.

A little later Johnny was laughing at a joke about cavernous vagina, and Daniel was wincing. 

"Um, I forgot, I'm supposed to call Amanda. Be right back," he said.

Johnny looked away from the TV and to Daniel and his gaze was uncharacteristically soft. He put a hand on Daniel's arm. "You gonna be okay, man?"

"Yeah, I mean- just because she doesn't want to get back together, she's still the mother of my children. We need to have a good relationship."

Johnny's hand squeezed and withdrew. "Make it quick, okay? You'll miss the best bits."

Daniel nodded, smiled a little strained, grabbed his phone and walked outside. He looked back. Johnny was transfixed by the screen, eating fries with his fingers, dipping them right in the sauce boat.

"Jesus," Daniel said to no-one in particular. But at least he didn't have to worry about Johnny Lawrence moving from the spot for a while. He put the phone in his pocket (it was a half a lie, he'd already talked to Amanda earlier that day) and entered the guest house. There was a lot of Johnny detritus in there, but he'd been surprisingly respectful of the things Daniel had left behind, not rearranging or removing anything, just fitting his things in the spaces inbetween. Johnny could surprise, on occasion. Daniel opened the third drawer on the small desk, removed some old papers and pulled out a black cardboard box. He took off the lid and sighed when he found what he was looking for, held it in his fingers. God. He hadn't as much as looked at it in more than thirty years.

**1985**

Johnny was playing Zaxxon on the Atari, mashing the fire button, he'd gotten to the really big spaceship when he heard the crunch of gravel in the driveway and looked out the window to see Daniel come riding in on his bike, and he smiled and stopped the game, walked outside. Daniel let himself in with the key in the flowerpot and closed the gate behind him.

"Hey," Daniel said, walked up to him and kissed him. Johnny kissed back, then leaned down to grab him by the thighs, pulled him up. Daniel wrapped his arms around Johnny's neck and his legs in the dips of his hips, holding on.

"Oh, okay," he said.

"Just glad to see you."

"I'm glad to see you too." He leaned in to kiss him again. "Happy birthday, Johnny."


	4. Chapter 4

**Present day**

Daniel walked in the house, grabbed the remote and turned the TV off.

"Hey!" Johnny said, affronted. "They just found the flayed guy!"

"We need to talk."

"Can't it wait?"

"No, I think we should probably just get all this over with." He sat down on the sofa, turned to face Johnny, who made an expectant gesture. 

"If you make it snappy we can still catch the ending."

Daniel sighed, reached into his pocket, got what he had found in the guest house out and put it on the coffee table. Johnny's eyes turned round at the sight of the old zippo lighter. 

"Holy fuck," he said. He looked at Daniel. "okay, Daniel. Let's talk."

**1985**

Johnny Lawrence was nineteen. He was nineteen, and in his bed was Daniel LaRusso, Johnny was hovering over him and they were kissing, tops long discarded. Daniel's hands roamed up Johnny's arms, over his back. Johnny wasn't delusional, he knew he wasn't a prettyboy like Daniel, but he knew he had a good body and assumed that made up for it. The way Daniel touched him and the way his hard dick pressed into Johnny's stomach suggested so. 

The past few days had been pretty mind-blowing. While real Daniel wasn't near as easy going as the porn Daniel of his fantasies, he was about a million times better just because he _was_ real, he was there, he wanted Johnny back and it felt fucking fantastic. Daniel's thumb hooked in the elastic of Johnny's boxers and Johnny just pulled back, pulled them off, then grabbed the hem of Daniel's shorts and underwear and pulled them both off in a smooth movement, threw them on the floor, laid back on top of him skin to skin, vibrated when Daniel moaned into his mouth. 

"Daniel," he said, pulling back.

"Uhh," Daniel said. "what?"

"Can I ask you something?" He smiled. "I mean... it's my birthday."

Daniel nodded, slipped a hand inbetween their bodies but Johnny shook his head. "No?" Daniel grinned, flashing big teeth. 

"I thought maybe you could use your mouth."

Daniel stared, his smile fading. "Um."

"Daniel, some of the dumbest chicks I've ever met have figured out how to do it, you'll do fine."

Daniel knitted his eyebrows together. "Jesus. I mean. Will you do it to me, too?"

Johnny frowned. Was Daniel LaRusso seriously suggesting he suck his dick. "I don't think so."

Daniel's mouth fell open. "What the hell, man?"

"Well, you know-" Johnny decided to change course from what he was about to say from the look on Daniel's face. "uh- it's my birthday? Please. You're so hot." He kissed Daniel's neck. 

"So you'd do it for my birthday?"

"Uh. Sure."

"That's seven months away."

"That's not my fault."

Daniel's chest contracted with that sound of exasperation and amusement, somewhere between a laugh and a sigh, and he shook his head. "Forget about it. You're really unbelievable, you know that? I don't know what I'm doing with you."

Johnny got up on his elbows, looked down at him. Daniel was smiling mildly, his face a little flushed, his lips just-kissed and bitten. Who the hell was he kidding? He'd go down on a baboon if it meant Daniel would blow him. "Okay, I'm sorry. Sit up."

Daniel's eyebrows raised. "Seriously? Uh- you know you don't have to-"

"Sit up."

Daniel used the heels of his hands to shove backwards until his back hit the wall. Johnny pushed up on his palms, leaned in for a kiss, and Daniel's hand came up in his hair. He pulled away to kiss and lick at Daniel's cheek, the scattered dusting of pale moles on his face, the column of his neck, his brown nipples, like he wanted to claim and mark every inch of him. Daniel's breath grew deep and ragged and his hand kept moving in Johnny's hair.

 _Strike first, strike hard,_ he thought when he got eye level with Daniel's dick and swallowed it down, tried to preemptively control his gag reflex, held his breath. Daniel gasped. But- like, it wasn't- that bad. There was a taste, but it wasn't disgusting, it was just intimate and deep like the smell of Daniel after a good workout. He pulled off.

"Don't come in my mouth, okay?"

"No, uh, no, sure uh thing,"

Johnny licked at the shaft, a little experimentally, and when he put it back in his mouth he found an easy rhythm to it, held Daniel down by his hips with both hands. Both Daniel's hands were in his hair now, not urging, just stroking and holding on, and his stuttered breaths gave way to moans. God, he'd buy a fucking forty cassette box set of those sounds. His hips started moving against the sheets, seeking friction. 

"Johnny, Johnny-" 

The way Daniel said his name there, that was just really something, and when his nose brushed at Daniel's pubes he breathed in, he just, he just wanted to drown in him. In his hair, Daniel's hands started pulling.

"Johnny, stop, stop, stop okay, I'm-"

Instead, Johnny moved faster, moaned around Daniel's dick and swallowed when he came. He pulled off, got up on his knees. Daniel looked shattered, a deep flush spreading all the way down to his chest.

"I- fuck- I tried warning you, you don't get to be mad-"

Johnny grabbed Daniel's hand and put it on his dick, and it was only a couple of strokes until Johnny came on his stomach. He fell down next to Daniel, watched as he grabbed some Kleenex off the nightstand and wiped himself off. 

"I would've," Daniel said, looked over at him. "that was amazing."

"Give me twenty minutes."

Daniel laughed, then he started getting out of bed. Johnny grabbed at him but he slipped out of his grip, walked over to where he'd discarded a backpack, brought it over. Johnny sat up in bed and Daniel sat next to him. 

"Here," he said, rooted in his bag and pulled out a Hostess cupcake. "birthday cake."

Johnny laughed. "I actually love these."

He took a bite and watched as Daniel rooted around more in his bag, got out a little box.

"And I got you a present."

"Oh come on, you didn't have to do that."

"I know, I wanted to."

Johnny finished the cupcake and then he took the box, smiled a little shy. "Thanks, Daniel."

"Open it."

"Huh," Johnny said. "a lighter?" Then his eyes widened. "This is from Nam."

"Yeah, it used to belong to my dad," Daniel said quietly. "he did a few tours. I thought you'd like the enscription."

 _"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for I am the evilest son of a bitch in the valley,"_ Johnny read out loud. "this is badass!"

"You like it?"

Johnny stared, put it back in the box and handed it to Daniel.

"This is way too much, Daniel. This is like, a memory of your dad, I can't take that."

"I actually have a few zippos," Daniel said. "he kept all of them. And I want you to have it. It- it means a lot but uh, so do you, Johnny."

Johnny stared.

"And you love all that war stuff, I don't, really. I have other things I prefer to remember him by."

Johnny put his hand on Daniel's face and directed him in for a kiss.

**Present day**

"So that's where this got to," Johnny said, weighed it in his hand. "probably for the best, I would have pawned it by now. Probably would have got stiffed, too."

"What?" Daniel said.

Johnny looked at him. "Look, Daniel." He sighed. "I was angry for a long- for a real long time. But I mean. We were both so young, you know? I forgive you."

**1985**

It couldn't really last forever, but it still felt like a punch in the gut when his mom and Sid came back from Tenerife. Still, they made it work. Those were good days, too. Daniel on the back of his Harley, hands tight around him, on their way up the Valley. Kissing in the guest house in sensei Miyagi's garden, though Daniel was reticent to do much more in there. Long nights at the arcade. Practice in the park or on the beach.

Then one day, Daniel was kind of uncharacteristically late, and when he did show he was all distressed. Johnny frowned. "Hey, what happened?"

"Just kind of got into it with my mom," Daniel said. "mr Miyagi – his dad is dying."

"Mr Miyagi has a dad? He's like a hundred."

"He has to go to Okinawa, be with him. And uh- I really want to go with him. I owe it to him to go."

Johnny frowned. "How are you going to get to Okinawa? Is he paying for the ticket?"

Daniel bit his lip. "No, he can barely afford his own. So that's why I thought I could get six hundred dollars out of my college fund. But my mom refused. It's in her name so I can't just go to the bank and take it out either, but it's my money! I should be able to do what I want with it!"

"I'm sorry, Daniel," Johnny said. 

Daniel looked up at him in a sort of beseeching way. "Um. Johnny. I'm- look, you don't think you could loan me the money?"

"Me?"

"I mean – you're rich. I would pay it back, like I'd get a job as soon as I get back, I'd pay back every cent."

Johnny blinked. "I don't know, man." 

"He's leaving tomorrow, at six," Daniel said. "I don't know what to do."

Johnny was silent for a moment. "Can you come by the house at like, three tomorrow?"

Daniel hugged him, even though they were in the middle of the street. Johnny pushed him away.

It was always going to be a long shot, and Sid wasn't even back until midday the next day for Johnny to ask, but of course he said no. "What the hell do you need six hundred dollars for?"

"It's not for me," Johnny said. He'd rather die than ask for another handout from Sid. As soon as he could, he'd be out of that house. "it's for a friend. It's an emergency. I told him to come over at three."

"Well, that was a mistake."

"I'll do whatever you want, man," Johnny said, gritting his teeth.

"Some friend, huh?"

Johnny was silent.

"You know, staff have eyes, you nancy. You bring that kid over here again, you're out on the street tomorrow."

Johnny stalked out of the house, before he did something he would never be able to take back.

He was so angry he just rode up to Bobby's house, and he and the boys went for a ride, going at a hundred miles an hour on the freeway, and he completely lost track of time. It was almost three when he realized he was late, and he raced home, but there was no Daniel, and he tried to find him at the shitty apartment in Receda, he knocked at Mr Miyagi's door but he told him he had no idea where Daniel was. 

Later, he learned Daniel had managed to get enough money for the ticket, and apparently he'd had a great old time in Okinawa because he stayed away for months. Johnny didn't get a phone call. Or a letter. Not as much as a postcard, man. 

That was how it ended.

**Present day**

"What the hell are you talking about?" Daniel said.


	5. Chapter 5

**1985**

Daniel looked at the time. It was three. He was waiting outside Johnny's house. He didn't dare look for the key in the flowerpot now his parents were back. Then the gate opened, and Daniel smiled, but it wasn't Johnny there, it was his dad, a big, older looking guy. 

"You looking for Johnny?"

"Uh, yes sir."

"He told me about your money problems."

Daniel flushed a little. "Uh, yeah. I mean, I'd pay it back, all of it, as quick as I could."

"Is this blackmail?"

"What?"

"Because Johnny feels blackmailed. Are you out to ruin his career as an athlete? Wasn't that illegal kick enough?"

"What?? No! No, I just, uh, I just asked!"

"Blackmail is a felony. It carries prison time."

"What, no, I just asked for a loan! I was never going to say anything about- uh-"

"About what?"

Daniel's mouth clapped shut. "Yeah uh, can I just see Johnny, just so I can explain? Please."

"Johnny doesn't want to see you again," Johnny's dad said. He got out an envelope. "this is not, as you call it, a loan, it is a one time payment. If you come back for more, if you ever contact Johnny again, we will have to involve the police." Daniel stared at it. 

"But I-"

"He also wants you to take this back." He handed over the box with the zippo.

"This is all a huge misunderstanding," Daniel said.

"Get out," Johnny's dad said, and closed the gate behind him. 

If Daniel had time, maybe he could have made a different decision, or at least maybe tried to track down Johnny. But he had no time at all. He made his decision, then turned around on his bike. He had to pack a bag and buy a plane ticket and get out to the airport and he didn't have a moment to lose. 

On the plane, mr Miyagi sleeping in the seat beside him, he looked out the window and at the stars, breathing through his mouth, and let tears fall silently. He'd allow himself a little self pity, he thought, these weightless night hours, but as soon as they touched down he'd be there a hundred percent for mr Miyagi and experience Okinawa. What had he ever been thinking, getting involved with a stupid, selfish bully like Johnny Lawrence in the first place? Of course he'd just end up getting hurt. 

That was how it ended.

**Present day**

Johnny gaped. "Blackmail?"

"That's what your dad said. I was too scared to contact you after that."

"He's not my fucking dad!" Johnny shot up to his feet, started stalking off for the door. Daniel got up too, got in front of him.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go kill the piece of shit my mom married."

"No, you're not," Daniel said, firmly, grabbed his shoulders. "it's been more than thirty five years."

"So he's racked up a lot of interest. I need to fucking hit something, okay?" He looked to the side.

"Not the walls, idiot. They're not plaster, they're wood, you'll just punch a hole in your hand."

Johnny grimaced, looked about as on the verge of tears as Daniel had ever seen him. He put both arms around him and Johnny hugged back so hard he almost squeezed the air out of him. 

"Fuck," Johnny said, in an unfamiliar high pitch. "fuck."

Daniel cradled the back of his head with one hand. "It's okay, Johnny. It doesn't matter. It's been a long time."

"You don't get it," Johnny said into his shoulder. "I loved you."

Daniel blinked, then he sighed and relaxed against Johnny. "I loved you too."

"I have to go sit down." He pulled away, walked a little shaky over to the sofa, breathed hard, Daniel sat down next to him, looked worried.

His heart had been broken, at the tail end of that summer in 1985. And it had scarred over, gotten tough and gnarled. In his life, he'd never quite loved anyone as he'd loved Daniel LaRusso those warm summer weeks. But the thing about scar tissue is it can fall off, and then you're more tender and vulnerable underneath than you were before, and it felt like that now, like his heart was just a red raw defenseless thing. 

"I'm still gonna kill him," Johnny said, just for something to say, and because it felt good to say.

"You're not killing anyone," Daniel said. "he probably just did what he thought was best." He sighed. "And the money allowed me to be with mr Miyagi when he needed me, let me experience Okinawa. I'm grateful for that."

"Stop being so nice."

"But yeah, he was also a manipulative, homophobic piece of shit."

"That's more like it."

"How did he get the zippo, anyway?"

Johnny shook his head. "I was stupid. He probably went in my room. I had it on a shelf, with a picture of you."

Daniel smiled. "You old romantic."

"Don't call me names, I feel bad enough as it is."

Daniel reached out an arm, put it around Johnny's back and he sagged into his side, put his head on Daniel's shoulder. 

"You know, one of the main philosophical tenets of miyagi-do is goju-ryu. That means hard and soft. Because life is both those things. And you have to build a foundation that lets you deal with both. Both in life and on the mat."

"Well," Johnny said a little shakily. "I've been dealing with the hard so long if the soft ever decides to make an appearance, I guess I'm ready."

Daniel sighed, leaned his head to Johnny's. 

* * *

"Bye dad, bye Johnny." 

Daniel hugged Sam and Johnny fist bumped Anthony, and they went off for the waiting car. Daniel raised a hand in greeting and Amanda nodded at him, smiled her pretty dimpled smile. Even though it had only been a couple of months, it had already gained an air of normalcy, not being together, even though it hurt. It helped, at least, that they weren't enemies. Daniel watched them drive off.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's kind of weird. And it's not weird, and it's weird that it's not weird."

"Okay," Johnny said. "hey, do you think you could give me ten minutes?"

"Hm?"

"Just, could you hang out here for ten minutes before you come back inside?"

Daniel frowned. "I guess?"

"Thanks."

Daniel sat down in a lawn chair, looked at his phone. When ten minutes had passed he went inside the house, and he smiled a little curiously. Johnny had put on a shirt and blazer for some reason, and he'd lowered the lights and lit all the tea lights. He dropped the needle on a record, and a very familiar song began to play. _Come prima..._

"What do you say, LaRusso?" He reached out a hand.

Daniel nodded, grinned, and took it, let Johnny lead them into a slow dance. He wasn't too surprised – in the weeks after that bizarre reveal that told the truth about their old breakup, Johnny had been increasingly affectionate, reminiscing about arcade trips and Harley rides and Hostess cupcakes, stray hands resting on Daniel's back when he cooked, and a different charge to their training, which felt so obvious he didn't really feel comfortable demonstrating with Johnny in front of the students anymore in case any of them pick up on it, always choosing one of the stronger students instead of his fellow teacher. 

"You told me what this song meant, once," Johnny said.

"You remember that?"

"I remember everything," Johnny said. "it's about hooking up with someone you used to go out with, who's still a total babe, and making it even better the second time around."

"Something like that," Daniel said, felt a flutter in his chest.

"No, it is that," Johnny said stubbornly. "I looked it up on the iComputer and the translate webpage just to make sure." He cleared his throat. "A nessuno voglio bene come a te, Daniel."

Daniel's eyebrows raised, and he nodded. "Okay, that's impressive."

Johnny looked at him a little expectantly. Even though so many things had changed, Daniel did feel so fulfilled having returned to karate. It had reminded him of what was important in life, it had given him a reason selling cars never quite had (even if they were at the best prices in the Valley). And it had reconnected him with a philosophy which had enchanted him as a teenager, which he really felt could make the world a better place. Accept and know both the hard and the soft in life. Defend yourself, but never strike first. 

Never strike first.

Well, there are exceptions to every rule, Daniel thought as he leaned in and kissed Johnny Lawrence's mouth, and felt Johnny's body tremble against him when he kissed back. 

It felt an awful lot like a beginning.


End file.
